49th Parallel

One of the greatest actors of his time, Laurence Olivier was in countless classics, almost always turning in performances that are still remembered today. While I can appreciate his ability as an actor, I've never been a huge fan of his.  Truthfully, I just haven't seen him in much even though he has been in over 60 films.  Held in high regard, 1941's 49th Parallel is one of those films, and oddly enough, one that fans and critics alike seem to watch. It's a prime example of a WWII propaganda film, but not in a good way.

There of course is some background with the propaganda machine that produced this movie. Director Michael Powell was approached by the British government in 1940 to make a film about mine-sweeping, but instead he decided to make a film that he hoped would "scare the pants off the Americans." Still a year away from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was very much a neutral country. World War II was hanging in the balance as Germany swept across Europe, swallowing up countries at a lightning pace. Powell's motivations were legitimate, but now watching this movie over 70 years later, the effort is almost laughable.

Patrolling and attacking along the Canadian coast in the Atlantic, U-37 (a German U-boat) is gaining notoriety for attacking every ship it comes across.  Hiding out in Hudson Bay from patrolling ships and planes, the submarine is attacked and sunk, leaving only a small landing party alive on-shore to fend for themselves.  As the ranking officer, Lieutenant Hirth (Eric Portman) takes charge, searching with five other survivors for some sort of safety. With little options of where to go or what to do, Hirth decides to head for the U.S./Canadian border (the 49th Parallel) and seek asylum in the still-neutral United States. Thousands of miles stand between them though, and the countryside is alive with people looking for the escaped Germans.

I'm not quite sure what I expected heading into this movie. Maybe I confused it with another movie. Maybe I misread the year. I do know that I didn't expect such an obvious, sometimes painful effort at a propaganda film.  The story is an episodic one broken up by long fades to black.  The survivors make their way across Canada in hopes of reaching freedom. They attack a far-off, lonely trading post. They rest at a village of German farmers, and even come across a pacifist (Leslie Howard) living in the wilderness. The whole purpose of the film is to show how evil, how despicable, how cutthroat these Germans are, doing anything they need to survive. All sides in WWII were capable of atrocities, but the effort here falls short...or far maybe, depending on how you look at it.

Trying to convince neutral Americans that their country should join the war, Powell and the screenplay deliver one of the most heavy-handed attempts I've ever seen at propaganda. The Germans are perfectly evil, reveling in the cold-blooded murders of Canadian shipping, admitting they're killing women and children somewhat proudly. Portman's Hirth and his fellow survivors open fire into a crowd of innocent people, and later he orders the execution of one of his own men, Vogel (Niall MacGinnis), for questioning why they're doing what they're doing. It is a frightening performance for Portman, and a strong one, but it is too exaggerated, too stereotypically and cartoonishly evil to register.

In his efforts, Powell does a somewhat funny thing in demonizing the Germans. He humanizes some of them during their travels. Raymond Lovell plays Lt. Kuhnecke, a capable officer who is killed off almost immediately. MacGinnis' Vogel seeks solace in the farming community, becoming a popular baker and wanting to leave Hirth and the others behind. Instead, Hirth orders his execution at the hands of his most loyal followers/survivors (including Peter Moore, John Chandos, and Basil Appleby). The thought process is an interesting one, showing that all Germans aren't obsessed, driven Nazis, but wouldn't that work against Powell's intentions? Or does it do just the opposite? I guess it does show that the most extremist Nazis were capable of horrific acts, even against their own. It may make sense, but it gives the film an odd two-way feel that never quite clicks into place.

The episodic nature of the story allows for some interesting casting as I mentioned earlier in the intro.  Nominated countless times for Academy Awards and winning several over the course of his career, Olivier's performances are legendary, but this ain't one of them. He plays Johnnie, a French-Canadian trapper who incurs the wrath of Hirth's squad. His attempt at an accent will assuredly produce some chuckles, and the performance is basically one big stereotype to begin with. Howard is more interesting as Philip Armstrong Scott, a pacifist who questions everything about the war.  Raymond Massey saves the best for last, an AWOL Canadian soldier who Hirth meets on the road as he nears the border. The posters push Olivier, Howard and Massey as the stars (even giving Olivier a love interest that doesn't actually exist), but don't be confused. The performances from that trio are more of the cameo nature than leading roles.

This is a movie that is almost....almost...saved by its ending. It is the type of ending that has a mean streak in it a mile wide, the Allies showing the Axis forces who's really the boss.  It delivers a nice little twist, but leading up to it, the movie's flaws are just too much. Visually uninteresting with long monologues, preachy and heavy-handed in its approach (even for a propaganda film), I struggled mightily to make it through this one.

49th Parallel <---trailer (1941): **/****